


A Promising Development

by voiceless_terror



Series: Prompt Fills [16]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Elias Bastardry, M/M, Manipulation/Grooming, Prompt Fill, Takes Place During Episode 102, season three
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27838987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voiceless_terror/pseuds/voiceless_terror
Summary: Melanie manages to mark Jon when he returns from the Circus. Elias considers his Archivist.
Relationships: Elias Bouchard/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Series: Prompt Fills [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1921006
Comments: 15
Kudos: 139





	A Promising Development

**Author's Note:**

> For anon prompt: “I don’t care.” + jonelias?
> 
> Warning- this is very different from what I usually post- so if you don't like, don't read! Simple as that.

It’s a relatively clean slice, all things considered. An added bonus, really.

Elias wasn’t expecting Melanie to land a hit, not this early on. The Slaughter had yet to fester to its truest potential, but the intent behind it was enough. Another mark for his poor Archivist.

So he doesn’t mind the blood on the floor, he can have someone clean that up. No, what’s truly important is that Jon is back, somewhat safe and mostly sound, and ready to be thrust back into a world of danger more directly under Elias’s control. 

He’s never felt plans come to fruition this quickly; with Gertrude, it was always a struggle. Years would pass, ‘apocalypses’ avoided, another mark dodged. She was ruthless in her pursuit of knowledge, but she wasn’t reckless. She had a strong sense of self-preservation, an idea and belief of her place in this world that kept her rooted firmly in the earth, straddling the line of human and avatar. It was almost admirable, though she did it with all the grace of a blunted knife. But it worked.

Until it didn’t.

Jon, though- Jon doesn’t have any of that. Jon wants answers, wants knowledge, yes. That’s essential in this position. But for someone so attached to the Eye, he’s surprisingly blind. He lets his terror override any sense of self, makes stupid, rash decisions in the heat of the moment which cause nothing but chaos. And that’s what Elias needed. A little bit of chaos. Controlled, of course. Carefully orchestrated so Jon can scrape by with his body and his psyche (just barely) intact. There’s no grace in this either. But it is beautiful to behold.

Even more so when Elias can catch him directly in the aftermath. Melanie stumbled out of his office, shocked by her own violence as the blade plunged into Jon’s arm (his good arm, though the term’s relative). And now Jon sits, blood stark against ashen skin and Elias can’t help the small smirk as he cleans the wound, careful and methodical. Jon deserves that, after all he’s been through.

“Does it hurt?” he ventures, though he knows the answer.

“Does it matter?” is the clipped response. The smirk turns into a smile.

It does. If he doesn’t feel the terror in the marrow of his bones, then what’s the point? It’s part of the reason he let him remain with the Circus for as long as he did. A rescue effort would take some time, sure, but he needed Jon to feel that fear in case the Unknowing didn’t go as planned. Needed him to feel the touch of only a Stranger’s hand day in and day out, knowing no one would come for him. No one remembered, no one cared. Elias cared. But that’s beside the point.

Jon’s in that strange in-between phase of becoming; his powers growing as his body fails, sustained only by the promise of Knowing. He wants his Archivist to bend, not break- perhaps a month had been too long? But he’s growing so _quickly,_ faster than Elias anticipated. If Jon could see inside his mind when he uttered Gerard’s name- just a quick flash of knowledge, the tiniest thing. _A promising development_ , he called it. And Jon got so _flustered._

Elias noticed early on that Jon thrived on praise. A stray ‘good job’ or a hand on his shoulder meant the world to him, starved as he was for attention. He remembers seeing the desperate young man first walk through his door all those years ago, unable to shake the threads that so terrorized his childhood and glinted under Elias’s Eye. _This is the one,_ something whispered to him. Someone young, impressionable. It would take some time, sure. But he’d dispose of Gertrude and put someone else in her place, someone he could mold in the perfect image of the Eye. He took him under his wing, occasionally pulling him from Research for special projects and the like. Always giving him glowing reviews, allowing him the slightest bit of solid ground before he pulled it out from beneath him. 

Elias has grown fond of this one in a way he hadn’t anticipated. So easy to scare, so hard to reassure. And yet for some reason, he keeps coming back to Elias. Elias who gives him no concrete answers, no real support. Who hasn’t, as of late, been very hands-on. He pulled away when Jon got the position, for necessary reasons. He had to experience these things firsthand, destroy his silly view of the world by himself. It’s why he killed Leitner, that stupid fool who threatened everything he worked for with a single monologue. The Mother helped him then, pulling a string and allowing Jon that momentary crutch of weakness, a cigarette. She gave him the opening he needed, and though he was always suspicious of the Web’s motives, he’d have to thank her for that one. 

And now Jon sits before him, so deeply marked by the Stranger’s hands, shaking off the Spiral’s disorientation and now shaking with the unpredictable violence of the Slaughter. A beautiful tableau of horror sitting prettily before him. He shudders into his touch, remembering his month of torture and yet still leans into this brief moment of affection; he has nothing, no one. Elias made sure of that. And suddenly he finds himself momentarily overcome. Jon deserves to know he’s done well this time. He allows himself this weakness, moves a hand to the back of Jon’s neck and leans in to place a single, tender kiss to his forehead. 

“I’m so proud of you, Jon.” And he is, this terrible creation of his. Jon shivers to hear his own name said with kindness instead of scorn and blame. Elias has made him better, and one day he’ll see that. But for now he collapses on himself like a small, dying star.

“I don’t care.” They can both feel the lie as it spills from his lips.

Jon has always cared. It’s what’s led him to this point. Care for his colleagues (couldn’t call them friends, not anymore), care for his job, care that someone, anyone will see how hard he’s trying. Jon can’t lie to him; he’s mad, devastated, traumatized and yet he eats that tiny breadcrumb Elias offers him like the young researcher that blushed under the tiniest bit of praise. Jon can count on one hand how many people have told him that. It would almost be sad, this malleability, if Elias didn’t find it so endearing. One day he’ll stand beside him over a ruined world, made powerful by Elias’s hand. But that must wait. Jonah’s a patient man, but Jon is not. One day, it’ll get him killed.

And one day, if Jonah has timed it right, he’ll wake up.

**Author's Note:**

> My first JonElias fic and it feels good! Rather find I like it. Hope you enjoyed, anon. I certainly did. Nice dose of manipulation to start off the day.
> 
> Comments always appreciated. You can reach me @voiceless-terror on tumblr for asks and prompts. Thanks for reading!


End file.
